Start: In the 2023/24 school year classes are held in 493 regular high schools (444 state and 49 private owned) and in 26 state schools/departments for students with developmental disabilities. Regular secondary schools are attended by 225 423 students, with almost equal number of female students (112 710) and male students (112 713). Schools/classes for students with developmental disabilities are attended by 1 556 students, 546 female (35.1%) and 1 010 male (64.9%) students.
The largest number of students enroll and attend public schools (97.8%), and about 2.2% of students attend private schools. Private schools are mainly attended by children from the Serbia-North region (about 58.4% of students who chose a private school are from the Belgrade region and about 26.7% from the Vojvodina region), and about 14.9% of children from the Serbia-South region.
End: In the 2022/23 school year, in 495 regular secondary schools, classes were attended by 232 534 students - 115 184 female students (49.5%) and 117 350 male students (50.5%). Schools/classes for students with developmental disabilities (27) were attended by 1 670 students - 609 female students (36.5%) and 1 061 male students (63.5%).
Table 1. Students enrolled in upper secondary schools by sex, type of institution and region, the beginning of school 2023/2024.
| Regular upper secondary schools | Schools for students with disabilities | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | females | males | total | females | males | ||
| REPUBLIC OF SERBIA | Public | 220375 | 110529 | 109846 | 1556 | 546 | 1010 |
| Private | 5048 | 2181 | 2867 | - | - | - | |
| SRBIJA – SEVER | Public | 112747 | 56919 | 55828 | 1102 | 391 | 711 |
| Private | 4295 | 1652 | 2643 | - | - | - | |
| Beogradski region | Public | 57276 | 28871 | 28405 | 530 | 187 | 343 |
| Private | 2947 | 1110 | 1837 | - | - | - | |
| Region Vojvodine | Public | 55471 | 28048 | 27423 | 572 | 204 | 368 |
| Private | 1348 | 542 | 806 | - | - | - | |
| SRBIJA – JUG | Public | 107628 | 53610 | 54018 | 454 | 155 | 299 |
| Private | 753 | 529 | 224 | - | - | - | |
| Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije | Public | 63011 | 31594 | 31417 | 223 | 85 | 138 |
| Private | 246 | 169 | 77 | - | - | - | |
| Region Južne i Istočne Srbije | Public | 44617 | 22016 | 22601 | 231 | 70 | 161 |
| Private | 507 | 360 | 147 | - | - | - | |
| Region Kosovo i Metohija | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
2. Upper secondary schools and students by sex and region, end of school 2022/2023.
| Regular upper secondary schools | Schools for students with disabilities | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| schools | students | schools | students | |||||
| total | girls | boys | total | girls | boys | |||
| REPUBLIC OF SERBIA | 495 | 232534 | 115184 | 117350 | 27 | 1670 | 609 | 1061 |
| SRBIJA – SEVER | 242 | 117949 | 58387 | 59562 | 14 | 1160 | 429 | 731 |
| Beogradski region | 107 | 59760 | 29376 | 30384 | 5 | 578 | 204 | 374 |
| Region Vojvodine | 135 | 58189 | 29011 | 29178 | 9 | 582 | 225 | 357 |
| SRBIJA – JUG | 253 | 114585 | 56797 | 57788 | 13 | 510 | 180 | 330 |
| Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije | 135 | 66720 | 33077 | 33643 | 6 | 254 | 95 | 159 |
| Region Južne i Istočne Srbije | 118 | 47865 | 23720 | 24145 | 7 | 256 | 85 | 171 |
| Region Kosovo i Metohija | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
The number of students that graduated from regular secondary school is 59 128 and there is almost an equal percentage of female students (49.4%) and male students (50.6%). About 84.4% of students graduated from four-year high school (26.3% gymnasium and 58.1% four-year vocational high school). Furthermore, 15.6% of students completed the three-year secondary vocational school. When observing the gender, 59.2% of female students completed a four-year secondary vocational school, 31.5% a gymnasium and only 9.3% a three-year vocational school. Also, a large percentage of students complete a four-year secondary vocational school (about 58%). Male students graduate from gymnasiums in a slightly lower percentage than female students (21.4%), but a three-year vocational school, which leads them directly to the labor market, is completed in a significantly higher percentage than female students (21.7%).
General secondary education - a little more than a quarter (26.4%) of all students who completed secondary school completed gymnasium, and almost three quarters completed vocational school. Observed according to areas of work, young people most often complete educational profiles in the areas of work "Electrical engineering" (12.5%); "Economy, law and administration" (11.7%); "Health and social protection" (9.6%); "Mechanical engineering and metal processing" (9.2%) and "Trade, catering and tourism" (8.3%).
Female students most often completed education for profiles in the fields of work "Economy, law and administration" (16.3%); "Health and social protection" (15.1%) and "Trade, hospitality and tourism" (9.2%), and male students "Electrical engineering" (22.3%); "Mechanical engineering and metal processing" (16.2%) and Trade, catering and tourism" and "Economics, law and administration" (with 7.5% and 7.2% respectively).
Methodological explanations
The data on secondary education ranged from the end of 2022/23 and the beginning of 2023/24 school year was obtained by downloading data from the database of the Ministry of Education - the Unified Information System of Education (UISE). In conclusion with the beginning of the 2022/2023 school year, the Republic Statistical Office conducted regular statistical surveys on secondary education, where secondary schools submitted statistical reports with the situation at the beginning and end of the school year.
The data presented in this announcement refer to the level of education ISCED3 according to the International Standard Classification of Education (The International Standard Classification of Education - ISCED2011).
Secondary education and upbringing are achieved in accordance with the goals defined by law.
The activity of secondary education and upbringing is carried out in a secondary school, which can be established as a gymnasium, as an art school, as a vocational school or as a mixed school (gymnasium and vocational or art school). In the school for students with developmental disabilities, education and training for the appropriate occupations of the students attending this school is provided based on the opinion of the interdepartmental committee for the assessment of additional educational, health and social support for the student, with the consent of the parents.
The term "student" means a full-time student. A regular student is a person enrolled in school with the aim of attending classes. Secondary education is implemented according to areas of work, and within them according to appropriate educational profiles.
Secondary education ends with a state-level exam.
Since 1999, the Republic Institute of Statistics has not had individual data for the AP of Kosovo and Metohija, so they are not included in the data for the Republic of Serbia (total).